The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-05-04
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FREE TRADES FIAsCo.
How Free Trade has Msnut Depressed Trade
~. M for Nrent HritAin..

FREE TRADES FIAsCO.
How Free Trade has Meant Depressed Trad
for Great Britain. y,...
In Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Il
April there Is published a paper by M
A. Williamson, which should be read b
every Cobdenite Ia England and Americ,
It Is entitled "Free Trade and Depresse
Trade" and as applied To Euglish Asct
policy Ia in tended 10 chow that the on
condition has brought about the othel
1t is q calm presentation Of facts. q carefu
ntudy Of the statistical abstracts Of tn
English Board oil Trade from 1910 to tn,
present time, and the article cannot hell
but prove 10 the satiafaction OF every I'M
partial mind the utter failure OF the Eup
lish plan-lsid out In 1916 and completed
in 1S75-of admitting free OF duty sucl
imports as come into competition Will
British products, and OF heavily tsxin,
those which do not.
The belief that this policy has hitherto
enabled England to maintain its CONNER
clal supremacy, has been received, Mr.
Williamson says, as ian article Of unaues
toned faith" even among the educated
classes but statistics plainly show thal
$50 far from the repeal OF the Corn Laws
being entitled to rank with thu great lao,
tors which after 1850 led to such a vast OK.
panaion, not only in the commerce of The
United Kingdom, but In that Of Europe
and the UnitedtStates, 1t had no influence
on 1t Whatever, nor In cauBing the al.
vance in wages and value Of land 80 ab.
aurdly .aacribed to it." ,
These factors, Mr.. Williamson finds
really to bave been: i. The rapid develop.
ment Of the railway system. 3. The enor'
mousincrease in the use Of machinery. 8
The great increase in the number and size
Of steamers. 4. Tho discovery OF gold in
California and Australia. With these
powerful agencies. at work to stimulate
trade in Europe and America, 1t was In.
evitable that England, the great producer
Of the world, should mainly benefit. The
wonder Is mot that our import and ex.
port trade increased 80 much, but that,
situated as w were, 1t did not proper.
portionally with other nations, increase
much more."
Though Europe, between 1850 and
1870, Was constantly disturbed by warn
and revolutions, aud America during 1862
and 1864, In tho throes Of her great civil
Wal, by which We greatly profted-ior at
the end OF each great struggle there arose
q large demand for British products-we
find that while our imports and exports
only increased 1873 per cent France, Ger
many, Russia, Austria, Spain and Portugal
increased theirs on the average OF lGl Der
cent and the United States 10 per cent.
REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS.
During the eighth years which preceded
the abolition in 1910 Of the Corn Laws, the
total duties levied by England on corn,
meal and -four only averaged s7O7, G51 per
annum. From 1850 to 1860 the registra.
ton fee Of one shilling charged on each
quarter imported yielded an average an.
nual income OF 1923, 900. "In 1869, in
order, as tho Chancellor Of the Excheouer
remarked, to do away with the last rag Of
protection this feo wac repealed. Had
it been retained we should. on the go.
100000 OF quarters imported between 1870
and 1885, have saved l1,500,O 600 sterling Of
revenue, or over 100000 q year. We say
saved, for these millions wholly went to
swell the profits Of the foreign Importer"
This assertion Mr.. Williamson fully
makes good by an array Of facts quite as
surprising as they are indisputable. From
the report Of the Royal Commission on the
Depression oil Trade he gives tho import
OF manufactured goods into England as
follows: 1860, $4,000. 900; 1sG0-64,
SIS 600, 600; 1S65-69. S27,O 900 900; lS7O-74,
S37, 00O, 900; lS75-79, $4,000. 600; lSs0-S4,
$55, DOC, 900.
III this rapid rate ofincrease continue"
says Mr.. Williamson, "a further serious
fail in wages-which has in the last Eve
years, II We include the workingmen late
ly thrown out Of employment, been on the
average not less than IS q wsek-appears
inevitable. AS there are 6 $500, 900 Of arti-
Sans in the United Kingdom, this fall
which has already occurred this repre-
sents an annual loss Of spending power Of
no less than s67, 100000. The decline in
wages having in a great measure been
caused by the influa Of agricultural labor
ers into large manufacturing districts in
search Of employment, the workingman is
finding that, so far from the repeal in these
days proving a boon, it is to him and the
nation the most ruinous measure ever pass
ed by a British legislature. On agricul.
turo its effect has been vastly more dis
astroue. In 1855 there were in the United
Kingdom 4,2l3,651 acres under wheat cul-
tivation, yielding, ct 81 quarters to the
acre, 14,74S. IT'S quarters, which, calculated
at 54,. 7d.-the average market price be.
tween lS~5l-'60-gave q crop Of the value
Of GAO, $50, 600. In 1866 there were only
2,2S6, 900 acres under wheat, yielding a
crop at 30s. q quarter, worth only Cl2, OOO,-
000-a deficit Of over c2S, 000. 600. The
political pharisees Of the Golden school,
who pose as the friends Of the farmer, tell
him all this is the result Of iniluitous
land laws. Give him the land tor moth.
ing what better would he bel"
Not at all, as Mr.. Williamson makes the
figures prove. The estimated burdens on
agricultural land in. England are twelve
shillin9s an acre, whereas, in America,
where no fertilizers are required, and the
produce Of five acres Of wheat can be
brought from Chicago to Liverpool at less
than the tcost OF manuring an acre
Of wheat in England, the burdens
amount to only Cd. an acre. "Under such
conditions, it is impossible for the farmer
to continue wheat cultivation, nor ia he
likely to take the advice Of his free trad
ing friends that, if wheat won't pay he
must try something else."
COMPARISON.
AS 1t is only since 1874 that under the
changed conditions Of conducting the com
MERGE Of the world, the free trade system
hgs been pittcd on equal terms apainet the
''much.abuaed protective SYSTEM" it Is,
says Mr.. Williamson, OF the frat impor.
tancs that VIC should carefully compare
the results OF the two systems:
"For this purpose we shall take two
protectionist countries, generally regarded
by us in this connection as the greatest
sinners-Germany and the United States.
In 1874 and 1854, their exports Of home
produce compare with ours as follows, in
millions Of pounds: